The Last Days (June 19-25, 2023)
Issue No. 10
Welcome to the tenth edition of The Last Days newsletter.
The Last Days delivers a collection of curated JW-related news articles from around the world, and other entertaining information, straight into your inbox every weekend. You choose what you want to read, believe, download, listen to, watch, or subscribe to.
You can find the last edition of TLD covering June 12-18, 2023, here if you missed it. If you prefer to read The Last Days on our webpage click here.
This extended edition of The Last Days, covering the week of June 19-25, 2023, contains our leading Feature of the Week: The Golden Age magazine; JW News from Russia and Germany; an extended in-depth JW News Fact Check; a JW Book Review; your regular JW Celebrity News ‘gossip’ section with this week’s celebrities in focus… NBA Players; a new video from YouTube content creator, ExJW Panda; and more!
Enjoy the Last Days!
“The events unfolding around us, are making clearer than ever, that we’re living in the final part of the Last Days, undoubtedly the final part of the final part of the Last Days, shortly before the Last Day of the Last Days.” - Stephen Lett, member of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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The Golden Age magazine
[Commencing] in October of 1919 a companion to The Watch Tower was published in the form of the magazine The Golden Age. - JW.ORG
For most of its publishing existence, The Golden Age magazine (now known as the Awake!) was touted by Jehovah’s Witnesses as “a Journal of fact” and a source of newly revealed truths.
The Watchtower magazine of May 15, 1955, in commenting on The Golden Age magazine, stated:
This week’s Feature of the Week is a look back at a 100-year-old article from The Golden Age magazine.
Did you know that 100 years ago Jehovah’s Witnesses were anti-vaxxers?
The following is extracted from the January 3, 1923, issue of The Golden Age magazine, containing the then current teaching and belief of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Note: The above magazine cover is from the June 20, 1923, issue.)
[EXTRACT] The Vaccination Fraud
In recent years, there has been a great deal said of the merit and demerit of vaccination. There never was complete acceptance or unanimity of opinion among the medical and surgical professions. There have been dissenters since the time of Jenner; and the number has greatly increased since the anti-vaccination societies have published the vast amount of evidence against the practice, thus opening people’s eyes to the tragedies of this abominable practice.
The very principle of vaccination is enough to condemn it. The idea of injecting rotten matter, pus, into the circulation of the blood, is disgusting, repulsive, to say the least. If vaccination in anything; it is a loathsome, vile disease caused by injecting infectious matter into healthy people as well as into sickly ones.
There are many honest doctors whose statements attest that they feel greater uneasiness about vaccinia than about actual cases of smallpox : that there are less suffering and fewer critical cases from the latter than from the former; that they are even convinced than an active and deliberately induced vaccinia was the existing cause from which developed disease that eventually in untimely ending of lives full of promise; and that there is too much evidence against this vicious practice to fear a satisfactory denial of the foregoing statements.
Public resentment against compulsory vaccination is spreading; for the whole Jennerian theory of vaccination has been shown to be built on falsehood.
…That the vaccinationists have no faith in this fetish, is proved by their demand for compulsory vaccination. If vaccination actually protects, then after they have been vaccinated, why are they not content, if they believe they are immune, and let other people alone? But do they show confidence in their doctrines? No, instead of feeling safe, they have the greatest fear of contagion.
…It would not be any more senseless or absurd to make the claim for some anti-lightening specific or serum, than to claim that vaccination is a protection against smallpox.
Perhaps the next most wonderful discovery of this “brain age” by some learned M. D. will be a serum for inoculating against lightening.
But when one understands “the game” he then knows that if vaccination did not bring in the “big money” it does, there would be very little of it done.
…They then raise a great cry for the need of compulsory vaccination. And it is on just such flimsy foundation as this that the political doctors are using the legislatures of the various states to pass laws which they can use to compel whole communities to submit to the indignity of having their blood contaminated with a manufactured filthy pus to accomodate big medics and big business.
…Whoever does any thinking on the subject must agree with Mr. S. D. Bingham’s opinion:
“Vaccination summed up is the most unnatural, unhygienic, barbaric, filthy, abhorrent, and most dangerous system of infection known. Its vile poison taints, corrupts, and pollutes the blood of the healthy, resulting in ulcers, syphilis, scrofula, erysipelas, tuberculosis, cancer, tetanus, insanity, and death.”
How many children of Jehovah’s Witnesses died from smallpox, diphtheria, or typhoid as a result of following the above medical direction of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses? We will never know.
The above quoted ‘vaccination fraud’ warning has since been discarded by the current governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It is worth noting that 100 years ago both blood transfusions, and the eating of blood products, were not prohibited by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
World Health Organization: Smallpox
Russia - published on June 21, 2023
Related civil judgement from European Court of Human Rights in the Case of Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia (7 June 2022) | via: JWLEAKS.ORG
Germany - published on June 23, 2023
Jehovah’s Witnesses press release
We are working with the Sheriff’s department to identify the cause of this fire.
We thank them and the fire department for their quick and thorough response and we will continue to cooperate fully with their investigation. We are thankful that there was no one present in the building at the time of the fire.
We hope to accomplish a thorough cleanup and restoration as soon as possible so we may resume meetings at the Kingdom Hall. Until then, the congregation will meet via video conferencing. - Flowing Wells Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
Be Honest in All Things
So as to not be misled, the JW.ORG website recommends that people evaluate the source and content of news and information and make sure that the content is current and accurate.
It is for this reason JW News Fact Check publishes reference links.
Nine years ago, in June 2014, the Jehovah’s Witnesses launched a series of three-day international religious conventions in cities around the world.
Media engagement and policy parameters for conventions are set by the coordinator’s committee of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses along with guidance from the Jehovah’s Witnesses Office of Public Information.
During the convention series held at the ExCel Center in London, England, a very interesting quote about the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses made it into the media:
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe people should live by Bible principles, which they say “give purpose to life, promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens”. [highlighting added] - Newham Recorder (see below)
In the above article, reporter Adam Barnett accurately reported and correctly cited the Jehovah’s Witnesses as the source of the quote.
How do Jehovah’s Witnesses measure up to accuracy?
Do not trust a news item unless you can check the original source. - JW.ORG
JW News Fact Check have put together the following information in relation to the phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens”.
Witness 1: The Watchtower magazine
The unique phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” also appears in the July, 1, 2013 issue of The Watchtower magazine, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In the above cited Watchtower article, the phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” was attributed to the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., the spiritual home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Did the Deseret News really state that Jehovah’s Witnesses “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens”?
Before that question is answered consider the second witness.
Witness 2: Awake! magazine
The unique phrase, “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens”, also appears in the April 2007 issue of the Awake! magazine, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
In the above cited Awake! article, this unique phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” was also attributed to the Deseret News.
Did the Deseret News really observe that Jehovah’s Witnesses “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens”?
What the Deseret News article really stated
The two flagship magazines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses both attributed the unique phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” to the Deseret News.
The Deseret News article that contained the phrase was published on June 23, 2001. See below composite.
The actual article in the Deseret News clearly attributes the phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” to having come from the ‘leaders’ of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The leaders say and [t]hey believe … NOT the Deseret News who are merely reporting what the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses say and believe.
It is quite possible that the Deseret News simply quoted verbatim the press release authorized by the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in the same way that reporter Adam Barnett quoted a press release.
Verdict
Both The Watchtower magazine and the Awake! magazine deceptively and falsely attribute the originating source of the phrase “promote strong family ties and develop productive and honest citizens” to the Deseret News.
For this reason JW News Fact Check declares these magazine articles, as published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, as containing both:
Misinformation and Misleading news.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses moral code
Are the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses the “honest citizens” that they themselves state they are?
In this instance the Jehovah’s Witnesses did not “develop productive and honest citizens”. It is possible that this moral failure led the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses to incorrectly say and believe of themselves that:
Protect Yourself from Misinformation and Misleading news
To stay safe and healthy, JW News Fact Check searched on JW.ORG for any warnings about protecting oneself from ‘misinformation’ or from accessing ‘misleading news’.
Our in depth research found the following ironic warning from the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Protect Yourself From Misinformation
- Do not believe everything you see or hear
What the Bible says: “The naive person believes every word, but the shrewd one ponders each step.”—Proverbs 14:15.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of actors, singers, musicians, artists, sports stars, and celebrities that are former or even current Jehovah’s Witnesses, or that were raised as children within the religion.
In focus: NBA Players
Did you know that there are several NBA players who are Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Current Players
Several current NBA players follow the Jehovah’s Witness faith, such as Jonathan Isaac, Trey Burke, and Jahlil Okafor. These players place their faith before their professional careers. Jehovah’s Witnesses have ethical guidelines that apply to home and court. [1]
It is estimated that 1700 Jehovah’s Witnesses died under the Third Reich.
Estimated Number of Jews Killed
The two most reliable sources for Holocaust data are the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem. Though this is the best information available, it is based on estimates and cannot take into the unknown number of victims whose bodies were never recovered or for whom there were no records. The Nazis kept detailed records of the people who passed through the camps; nevertheless, we do not know how many Jews may still have been unaccounted for in the many places where they were murdered. In addition, as the Allies began to close in on Germany, the Nazis began to destroy their records. We also don’t know the precise number of Jews in any of these areas. The population data ranges from 1937-1941 so, for example, the countries where the figures came from 1937 may not accurately reflect the number of Jews at the time the war began. Though the two institutions have different estimates, if you average the total number of Jews each says were murdered, the result is the commonly used figure of six million.
Gaslighting: How to recognise manipulative and emotionally abusive people …and break free by Dr Stephanie Sarkis
Mental health expert Dr Stephanie Sarkis sheds a light on 'gaslighting' - the manipulative technique used by sociopaths, narcissists, and others, offering practical strategies to cope and break free.
According to Merriam-Webster, gaslighting is defined as “psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”
Examples of gaslighting include:
Denial of behavior
Pretending conversations never happened
Words and actions do not match
Minimizing or ignoring behavior
Religious leaders sometimes use gaslighting as a tool to wield their power against someone else or maintain power or authority.
Did you know that word gaslighting has never appeared in any publication of Jehovah’s Witnesses?
In this YouTube video from ExJW Panda we learn about the fatigued and exploited slave class of volunteer workers.
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, it was announced at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses that
“Brother Anthony Morris III is no longer serving as a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
Still no news on the reasons for the removal of Anthony Morris III from the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, or his whereabouts, although online speculation continues to abound.
